THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president V M Sudheeran has maintained that he had not held consultations with anyone so far, on the reported Cabinet rejig plans. “A Cabinet revamp can be thought of only after discussions with all concerned, including senior leaders. Nothing has been discussed so far,’’ he said when mediapersons confronted him at the KPCC headquarters here on Wednesday morning, when he attended office after a two weeks’ break.
He parried queries linked to the arrest of a person listed as accused in the blackmailing controversy, who had escaped the eyes of cops for sometime by holding up in the MLA Hostel in a room booked by a Congress ex-MLA and with the latter’s alleged protection, before being nabbed finally. “I don’t have much information on the happenings in the state for the past two weeks,’’ he said. On the proposed meeting of KPCC office-bearers, party district presidents and heads of feeder organisations of the party here on Thursday, Sudheeran termed it as an important session. ‘’The meet is intended for revamp of the party from the grassroots-level. The time-bound restructuring of the party from the booth-level will be discussed,” he said.
Reports were there that Oommen Chandy had held consultations with the Congress high command on Cabinet reshuffle, but was told to hold discussions in the state itself with Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala so as to reach a consensus before seeking the final nod. But Chandy has not made any concrete moves so far, even as Speaker G Karthikeyan is awaiting sanction to quit his post and return to active politics while a few others in the Congress camp are eagerly awaiting for the CM’s call. The ‘I’ faction led by Ramesh is totally averse to any sort of Cabinet reshuffle and is also reportedly averse to the stepping down of Karthikeyan as the Speaker. It is understood that the delay in taking a decision on the Speaker’s resignation is attributed to the opposition to it from a few quarters. Sudheeran arrived from the US to a slew of issues, some remaining unresolved like the vexed bar licence renewal issue and a few others which had emerged during his absence like the Opposition’s charges of corruption in Plus One courses/Plus Two schools sanctioning and the issue of blackmailing case accused finding safe haven in the MLA Hostel.
The reaction of Sudheeran in the above topics, as he had a penchant to give new dimensions to a given issue and keep it alive in public realm for some time, was missing as he was on a brief vacation in the US with his family.